driving home last night after the aussiefloyd concert i thought i was nailed. saw the boys well in advance and passed by an emphasis patrol (3 cars pulled over), checked speed, no sweat. WHAM!!! lights, lights, lights, and i pull to the shoulder. a tap, tap, tap, on the pass side window, i contort myself in the konig to roll the window down. "do you have your drivers licence sir?", he didn't ask about registration or insurance card. "we had never seen those kind of taillights on one of these cars", european style. "are they working?". "yes, but the amber lens is on all the time". ok. "is the red portion lit?". "yes". "do the turn signals work?". "yes". "do the brake lights work?". "yes". ok. " you must have a short in the electrical system. there is a problem. they are illegal in washington state, and the tail lights have to be red". i fibbed and told him "i have some some all red ones at home and i'll change them over". he didn't even comment on the collector plates. the vehicle is restricted to very specific useage while wearing them. highly illegal driving the car for everyday use with them on the car. he hands me back my license, tells me to have a good evening and not to merge too slowly while entering the freeway. "no problem".

my jetta?- amber lenses in the tails. ford?- ditto.

with all the arch criminals out there, maniac drivers, semis blowing by me at 75+, i get pulled over for amber taillights. but...no ticket, no blood, no foul.

k

QUOTE (rhodyguy @ Nov 15 2005, 08:02 AM)

driving home last night after the aussiefloyd concert

Doesn't that count as a special event?

Hey there Rhody Guy, where were you when you were pulled over?? It sounds like it could be a "914 area of interest" A place where officers like to look at interestng automobiles. MSG L

yeah no kidding.....sometimes i would like to say " PICK YOUR F'ING BATTLES JACKASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" it kills me that with all the brain dead soccer moms driving around he picks an obvious enthusiasts car......let's see, who has the better skills soccer moms on the phone crossing 4 lanes to get into the mall ( never mind there are 10 OTHER entrances) or a guy in a '14????? pretty hard decision if you ask me

was for me. the band was VERY good. the concert was held in the seattle opera house. great sound, they really had it dialed in. next best thing to the real thing. interesting audience, lots of dads and sons (my guess). not very often that the music is bigger than the actual bad. aussiefloyd is touring down the coast at this point. highly recomended if you can still get tickets. i wonder if any other members saw them during the east coast, midwest portions of the tour.

k

WTF kind of idiot was he? All the damn cars now have amber turn signal lenses..

Up here if the blue lights are a flashing you're getting pulled over by a snowplow

i dunno geoff. i was perplexed. what i thought was interesting was "one of these cars". i thought about asking him what kind of car he thought it was, but i knew i was off the hook and didn't want to press the point. i was on hwy167 inbetween renton and auburn.

k

A lot of new cars have amber blinkers... I have yet to see an amber parking/tail light though.

I bet the cop's problem was the amber on a 914 with euro lenses is ON all the time when the lights are on.

What I did to fix the problem was to replace the white tail lamp bulb (The small one) with a RED bulb (found at almost all FLAPS). Problem solved since the blinker is a different bulb. So the blinker, blinks yellow, but the red bulb looks red through the yellow plastic when the tail lights are on.

that was his complaint. great idea. i'll go look at my flaps. no need to give them excuse to hit the lights. he could have given me a fixit citation. then i would have had to swap the lenses, and gone in for a compliance inspection. i know the collector plate debate would have been short and sweet and not resoved in my favor.

k

Cars originally equipped with orange turn lenses are designed and certified to have them, yours is not. European lenses are supposed to be installed on European tail light assemblies, which are likely to be different. The Cap'n

QUOTE (Cap'n Krusty @ Nov 15 2005, 11:16 AM)

Cars originally equipped with orange turn lenses are designed and certified to have them, yours is not.  European lenses are supposed to be installed on European tail light assemblies, which are likely to be different.  The Cap'n

Meaning the outmost lights are blinkers, the middle lights use bulbs with two filaments (work as driving lights and brake lights).

QUOTE (Cap'n Krusty @ Nov 15 2005, 12:16 PM)

European lenses are supposed to be installed on European tail light assemblies, which are likely to be different.

the Cap'n is right.
european tail-light assemlies don't have the amber "running" lights (or whatever you call them).

the european cars also don't have the amber front sidemarkers at all and they don't use the amber front blinkers as "running" lights either ...
Andy

QUOTE (Mark Henry @ Nov 15 2005, 12:26 PM)

Up here if the blue lights are a flashing you're getting pulled over by a snowplow

I was thinking snow too.


I bet there was $20.00 in it for one officer who swore it was a FIAT.


Or maybe they thought there was a "hot chick" driving the car. How long is your hair?

The between Renton - Auburn on 167 explains why........now if you were on Mercer Island they would have written you up fo'sure!

got a ticket there once for having a license plate lite out, must have been a real slooow night for the cops.

the same lense that the bird sells, A/R/W(outside inward), and that lots of folks run. i just thought it was odd getting pulled over for it. i've been driving with them on since i got my first 914. when i find a set of clear front sidemarker lenses that should get me pulled over too. how exactly does the rear housing differ, us vs eur?

k

Sobriety Check

John

Check your state's vehicle reg's for its version of light requirements. Usually they are: white only in the direction that you are travelling (reverse lights are OK while in reverse), euro front markers are OK too. Red markers and blinkers on the rear only, red can be visible from side at rear of vehicle only. Amber most other places, markers and blinkers on front and side. At the rear, amber is allowed for blinkers only. YMMV.

Eric

[QUOTE] At the rear, amber is allowed for blinkers only.

Yep... the RCW says for passenger vehicles in Washington, red is the only color allowed for rear running lights and brake lights. If the amber lens is on all the time, it's illegal.

It causes confusion in the local populace.

The cops in Connecticut are pussy cats compared to the ones that you people have to put up with..... they won't bother you here unless you have no tail lights..... they could care less what color they are.... maybe we have more bad guys here to keep them busy.....no restrictions on antique plates here either.

Kevin

The commander of the WSP for our region was in to get a couple of teeth filled yesterday. He was pretty sure that it was one of his guys that stopped you. Not to worry I got even for you.

The law is that the turn signal is the only light that can be amber. If it's on all the time or it comes on with the brakes it's not legal. It seems like a waste of time to me but, what do I know. Glad you didn't get written up.

Dave

Great job Dave.
one of the rules to live by. "never piss off a dentist or his friends"
Geesh with the 914Club that's alot of people.

My next door nieghbor is the city Judge. I think I need to bring him a beer or sumpin.

I recently put on a set of AA's repro Euro tail light lenses, and I'm having the same issue described in this thread: rear corner markers show amber whenever the lights are on.

I checked my FLAPS, showed him the bulb, and was told they aren't allowed to stock those bulbs with color tint, something illegal about them.

SO: anybody know a source (and what bulb number to order) for red-tinted rear corner marker bulbs?

For the recor, I checked and having amber taillights showing is legal in Virginia, so I'm safe there. But I'd kind of prefer red lights back there without losing the amber turn signals, plus it would relieve any legal concerns when out-of-state.


I

flipb, you *shouldn't* have to worry about out of state driving. As long as your car is up to your own states requirements you are fine on the roadways. For instance, if your state only has rear license plates, you can't get a ticket for not having a front plate in a state that requires front and rear.

If this ain't true, please let me know so I can cover my ass too.

flipb, you *shouldn't* have to worry about out of state driving. As long as your car is up to your own states requirements you are fine on the roadways. For instance, if your state only has rear license plates, you can't get a ticket for not having a front plate in a state that requires front and rear.

If this ain't true, please let me know so I can cover my ass too.

Just ran this by some LEO friends. They called it a 'probable cause stop.' Your tails gave them a reason to check and see if you were sober or other such violation.

So what have others done about this problem when switching to Euro tail lenses? The simplest solution, I suppose, would be to just remove the rear corner marker bulbs...

It seems that bulb is designated #1893 (correct me if I'm wrong!) but I can't find anyone online that sells that bulb with red tint.

For the record, I haven't had any issue yet - in fact, I haven't driven my 914 at night since I put the Euro lenses on.

This. The reality of the situation was he was doing a 'scratch and sniff.' The LEO will spot a ticket-able offense (usually a fix it ticket sort of one) and will pull you over to detect the smell of alcohol or something. Gives a decent warrant/excuse to pull someone over and can be a good method to stop potential drunk drivers.

It's the easiest method to deal with the issue, though per US regulations, you need those corner bulbs. Mine are burnt out on my 73, autozone didn't have in stock, and therefore I've gone a few years without them. I could get a ticket, but the rate I drive my car at night, plus how obvious it is, I haven't been worried.

Try SuperBrightLEDS.Com for the colored LED lights. They suggest using colored LED's in colored light situations.

Thats not true at all, i got a ticket in a rental car in Emporia VA for having tinted windows. They were a factory tint but it was more then you can have in VA. The rental had NC plates on it. Years ago when i moved to VA from san diego i had a license plate cover that was clear plastic and i got a ticket for that, the truck was still registered to California as i was in the middle of a move, that was also in Emporia VA. I hate going through that town they will find any reason to pull you over, like going 48 in a 45, yeah got a ticket for that too. Only 3 tickets i've ever had.

Is it that they CAN give you a ticket, or is it that they bet on you not being around to contest it locally?

Sorry for the hijack here. Just would like to know.

Who cares about the dam tail lights what about the Aussi- Pink Floyd how was the concert. I Go to them in Boston each year, what a blast. It's the one time my kids and I don't argue over the music. Love my 914 but pink floyd, you have to have your priorities. Badm.

if you're in their jurisdiction you're subject to their laws. This goes for pretty much anything, from CARB modifications in Cali, to weapon carry, etc. Doesn't help you can't contest it, but the "I'm just visiting" isn't always gonna be enough.

I got a lawyer and fought all of my tickets and lost 2 of the 3, the only one i got a break on was the 3 over only after i had my speedometer check and turned out to be off by 4mph. However i didn't get any points taken off my record since most states don't count tickets from VA. There is all kinds of crazy laws on what states count other states tickets and where you have you license.

For those who are interested, I came up with a cheap fix to this problem. I took a small (doubled-over) piece of aluminum foil and shaped it around the corner marker light, so that it shines only out of the side, and doesn't illuminate the rear-facing turn signal section.

Below, illustrated via cell-phone camera.

First, curved piece of foil around the corner marker light.
Click to view attachment

Then, "close" end of of foil against side-facing reflector surface.
Click to view attachment

Result: reduced glow of turn signal when tail-lights are on (although from side view, the corner marker is amber)
Click to view attachment

And for the curious - I made sure that the turn signal, when lights are off, isn't obstructed in side view due to the foil. This is a shot of the turn signal blinking, headlights/taillights off, from side view.
Click to view attachment

Let me help.
Here's the Wa. law that he applied:
RCW 46.37.050Tail lamps.
(1) After January 1, 1964, every motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, and pole trailer, and any other vehicle which is being drawn at the end of a combination of vehicles, shall be equipped with at least two tail lamps mounted on the rear, which, when lighted as required in RCW 46.37.020, shall emit a red light plainly visible from a distance of one thousand feet to the rear, except that passenger cars manufactured or assembled prior to January 1, 1939, shall have at least one tail lamp. On a combination of vehicles only the tail lamps on the rearmost vehicle need actually be seen from the distance specified. On vehicles equipped with more than one tail lamp, the lamps shall be mounted on the same level and as widely spaced laterally as practicable.

(2) Every tail lamp upon every vehicle shall be located at a height of not more than seventy-two inches nor less than fifteen inches.

(3) Either a tail lamp or a separate lamp shall be so constructed and placed as to illuminate with a white light the rear registration plate and render it clearly legible from a distance of fifty feet to the rear. Any tail lamp or tail lamps, together with any separate lamp or lamps for illuminating the rear registration plate, shall be so wired as to be lighted whenever the head lamps or auxiliary driving lamps are lighted.

Fix it tickets: Are a pain in the ass for officers. They warn you and say .."fix it, if you don't and the card isn't returned I will then mail the ticket to you." Cops don't want to do the follow up. So it's write or not write is the typical norm.

Finally, I supervised 9 Troops here in WA. I ruled with this motto: "Any invitation to stop a car take it." Now before you kill me on getting people stopped, I promoted this is what we get paid to do....stop cars. If I said, "drive around, look cool and eat doughnuts, cuz we don't get paid enough" How's that make you feel. Tickets are up to the troops who stop you and the contact that is made. On this stop, I would suggest that you guys are more on track to 'sniff' check on DUI. Again, do you want cops looking to protect or sitting and watching a movie on their laptops? concert lets out, small sports car = possibe risk taker and a possible DUI = a stop. No biggie.....

I've stopped some pretty cool people and found some real criminals on these 'chippy stops'!!! Bad guys don't think you will take the time to stop them for it and legal guys think you are wasting their time. If you think you're pissed for the silly stop, then you should see the guy who gets his car seized for drugs on that same silly stop!

The commander in Gig Harbor at the dentist is not over the guy on 167. FYI. Good guy, but wrong District, unless the Bellevue Commander went to Gig Harbor Dentist.

so relax people and you're right....TALK more about the concert!


Eeesssh parnoid people.......?

Mark, just because you are a cool guy and a very nice officer does not mean all of your colleagues are .

Pulling people over for no reason other than the color of a light seems assholish no matter what. If there was something else sure.

Being Jon Bovey would be "probable cause" for me...

I've got euro tail lenses and I think I pulled out the bulb for the amber part. I still have a signal and the tail/break lights share the inner red lens.

To be fair - I didn't go to the legendary AussieFloyd concert. I just had a question about Euro lenses, did the "upright 914World Citizen" thing and searched for a thread on the topic, and added my post... awakening a 5-year-old thread in the process.

rhodyguy would have to be the one to comment on the concert... and what he remembers of it.

You may have a good point though

I saw them play outdoors on the 8th of October in Eagle Idaho. I agree, the music was great! The whole event was awesome, especially since it turned out to be a nice clear and cool evening! I brought my wife and 2 kids with me and they also enjoyed it!

Trust me...I would stop Jon Bovey for the FUN of it...... and cite him for violating the laws of nature!


Still, the delivery is always horrible with some cops and I've seen my share! Even been pulled over to watch certain officers who are adding to the definition of A$$hat.

I stopped a certain Seattle Sports Celebrity (everyone here loves him) and he was cocky from the start. I stopped him for a 'chippy' violation and I knew it. He was being a jerk. When I told him that we had recieved a ton of complaints about people speeding in HIS childrens school zone AND we came out to let people know that cops are around. After 20 mins of not catching anyone speeding we stopped people in the school zone for little violations so we could be a 'billboard of safety' in HIS childrens school zone. Interesting to watch this guy, infront of his kids, EAT CROW. Who can argue about trying to make a school zone safer.

NOW back to the concert...................

I've done about 15,000 miles in about 15 other states in the past year and have never been pulled over with my out of state plates. But I only speed a couple MPH over, or flow with traffic!

Below, illustrated via cell-phone camera.

First, curved piece of foil around the corner marker light.
-------------------------------------------------
Flip, an ingenious cost effective solution. I have often wondered about the legality of running ambers at night - and the RCW provided the answer.

I modified your solution to flare out from the bulb to the end of the divider tab, so the bulb illuminates the entire side area without reflecting back into the turn signal area. Works great.

Thanks for the brilliant idea.

I second that.







Ooops, did I say.......SECOND?

Sounds like a sore spot hey #2?